I have been brewing this beer commercially since April. It is available at local bars about 100 miles east from you.

Now back to the question.Decoction is good but not necessary.If you can not do decoction you need to do step mash.

You do not have to do protein rest with mention malt but I get better extraction when I do protein rest.My mash schedule is 143F 30 min, 162F 30 min and mash out.

If you can, use open fermenter (or do not seal the lid).You do not have to ferment that cold.I am using 2124 and I ferment at 52F with great results.This is with 170 gallons in fermenter. Translated to homebrewing = ferment no colder then 50F.Bohemian Pilsner is NOT a German Pilsner.

What else I could tell you about it.Weyermann Bo pils malt is as close as you can get to Czech malt but it is still too clean for BoPils.If you can, mix this malt 60/40 with other pilsner malt.This will get you greater complexity.

I am shooting for 34 IBU (you system IBU might be different then my system IBU).You can use Magnum for bittering (32 IBU) (or mix magnum/Saaz)and late 5 min Saaz addition (2 IBU).

The Krusovice 12 means 12 Plato.Shoot your OG at 1049-1050.FG should be 1012-1014.

And water. Relax. May be water in Plzen is soft but Bo pilsner is brewed all over Czech republic.Water there is from soft to moderate (alkalinity). You want your water to be balanced to slight malty.

Carbonate to 2.6 volumes and you will be enjoying great beer.Good Luck.

Any reason why you guys don't switch to the low density elements? They work much better and the melt down is so much less of a problem! not to mention cleaning is a heck of a lot easier as well.

Short answer: I don't have the checkbook. The long answer involves corporate inertia, the difficulty and expense of getting someone up here to cut/weld on stainless, and the fact that my brewhouse is already going to be out of commission for 1-2 weeks immediately before our busiest weekend. We are getting this one Teflon coated, so hopefully that will help.

It wasn't even dry when it went, actually - just old and abused.

You said Teflon coated. Any concern when using caustic and lifting the Teflon off?At least that was a claim for PBW and Teflon dishes.

Ah jeez, that sucks. Thankfully every time I've come "close" to this, I got to the plug before anything happened. Way too easy to have happen though. I've been thinking about installing a pressure sensor linked to a switch for turning the elements off if there's no water in them.

As mentioned by TM above, I think I'd go with a float switch over pressure sensor/switch.

Sorry about the elements TM, but this just goes to show why heating elements are bad, and we should only use one of these:

Do you know the supplier?Is it cost effective?What do I do with spend rods?You think I will pass it by city council?

Freaky. This just happened to me this morning. Except we don't have a spare.

Any reason why you guys don't switch to the low density elements? They work much better and the melt down is so much less of a problem! not to mention cleaning is a heck of a lot easier as well.

Well I started with medium density heating elements.It was a cost decision on my part because I have 12 elements.I am sure I will be replacing elements at some point and I will consider Low Density elements.

No harm done. I had spare elements so I am up and running.Worst think was that I had to climb into the HLT to pick small copper nuggets. I am thinking of installing a float switch that would prevent this.

Saniclean do the trick of cleaning the elements. It is acid thou so do not soak it overnight. It would eat your element.

Congrats on getting a plug on local TV and for standing up to what could be a deadly move for local businesses! Keep us informed, maybe the power of Homebrewers could unit again to help your cause.

It is kind of ironic. I got a free publicity for something that can ruin my business.We shall see how it plays out. If someone here is from Wisconsin, contact your Senator / Representative and tell them that you oppose the changes in 125 chapter that regulates how breweries operate.